State of the Market: Trenches, NFTs, Alts and some hope. Feels like our ecosystem hasn’t caught a break since December last year, then again in July when Eth bounced back. Every few months it’s just survival mode for most part. Another curveball. Another liquidation wave. The October flush The BNB Oracle mess kicked off a chain reaction. Market makers dropped alts 30–50% as part of that whole oracle issue, MEXC insolvency rumors started floating, and everyone got hit. Scalpers / lenders / traders / holders got wrecked. Nobody came out clean. The Trenches and Liquidations The trenches have been rough. Loans tied to NFT assets started breaking down as prices bled. When the oracle issues hit and alts crashed, people who borrowed against their NFTs got trapped - portfolios down bad, loans underwater, collateral gone. A lot of people used trenches to grab extra liquidity and ended up losing both sides: their NFTs and their capital. It’s a loop that hurts the whole ecosystem. Less repayment, less liquidity, lenders take hits, floors bleed. If you’ve cooked through all this, you’re up compared to majority of the space. The NFT market’s been taking friendly fire all year. Even people not using leverage are feeling it because the pain trickles into every collection. Birbs and Pudgys Airdrop / The October Grind @pudgypenguins holders know the feeling. From the highs earlier this year to the grind these last few months, it’s been constant pressure. @moonbirds had a solid run but got dragged down again during the October flush, even with the official Birb airdrop announcement. These two in my opinion will have the most potential draw down because scalpers will grind it down; traders gunning for the airdrops are probably scalping the liquidations to keep the asset while pocketing the change downwards - not many managed to. For some it was a win-win, but for the holders and community it was more pain. Since the liquidity’s all shared between lenders and collections. It rippled across everything. Even Apes, who were chilling around 11 ETH and getting hyped for ApeFest with a bunch of good announcements, ended up dropping with the rest of us. End of day - supply and demand. But not because demand waned - most went broke or lost it all from this fiscal. Survive til capital flows back - it'll be brighter days ahead friends. I won't say what'll happen after the drop because you all know how they tend to go but this is my take for now. Airdrops / Consensus trades Over Alts When alts were falling apart, airdrops honestly felt like the safest play left and next up was consensus trades (Hyperliquid). I was lucky enough to catch a few, did solid in Blur Season 1, went harder in Season 2, and yeah, ate the crumbs in Season 3. Still good ammo for when the market woke back up. It went well, Im not a trader really but Hyperliquid probably kept most of the eco alive. Airdrops are one of the few ways to stay in the game without overexposing yourself. Right now it’s not about maxing out every allocation, it’s about staying alive, stacking what you can, and being ready when the market flips again. Been using @opensea to swap passively between USDC and Eth related things for the badges monthly. I think it was overly aggro farmed the first month and probably should be more chill, definitely have a feeling it'll be a good one. Most dropped out after burning out last month. Being faded is a good signal since less will be trying. @arbitrum and some info fi yap been a few good stimmy here and there but take what ya can also - infofi meta doesn't last forever. Market finds inefficiencies overtime and fill the gap. @monad might keep some that got a drop going - so thanks KeoneHD Survival, Belief, and Azuki This space rewards people who keep showing up. This month feels worse than 2018 but the truth’s the same, the ones who believe, adapt, and keep building always outlast. As said above (Supply / Demand / Capital) - low flow month from wipe. Demand will usually go back up if everyone holds strong in what they believe in. For the Azuki fam, hitting reset was the right call imo. It’s been a long year but sometimes you have to close things that weren’t working and focus on what's got a great footing at success. A business decision by @Azuki / @Zagabond team - start up things like this is where pivotal calls keeps the business going successfully and last forever. It's rough because everyone are friends - so these things are never easy. Holder count’s up, the team’s leaner, and they probably saved close to a mil a year in burn. That means faster moves, more focus, and better execution. From the top down, most people got it - for us community holders, it's a lot to digest but if you understand that then you'll find this change have it's pros instead of the cons. In times like these, you gotta find comfort in the teams and communities that keep pushing. Surround yourself with people and projects that still have that spark. Mental fortitude matters here, especially for NFT holders who get hit indirectly every cycle. Hell, I've been thru everything Azuki has hit and I'm still standing. I can't wait to proudly stand in this space at year 4 with @Azuki. You'll get through this hurdle, whoever and wherever you might be. If you ever need to talk, my DMs are open or find me in Azuki Alpha chat. Take a break. Focus on your health, mentally and physically. We’ve got @azukirunclub (Goat @0x_jonny), and I’ve been using it to turn financial pain into physical gains lol. There's @IKATOH_ETH and @IKUZOFITNESS. @emilyrosemcg and @AzukiCarden. Plenty more. Find your tribe in your own ecosystem (This for those listening and not in the garden) Find your people. Touch some grass. Life really does get better, and this isn’t the end. The space will still be here. When the opportunities come back, everything moves again frfr. A day doesnt mean a bad week, a bad week doesn't mean a bad month, a bad month doesn't mean a bad year. And If you're like me, then a bad year doesn't mean a bad life. Grateful for my time in the space - I can say that I am better because of it than when I joined. When everything burns, the ones that rise again are the ones with strong communities, lasting IP, brands pushing, and teams that keep showing up. IKZ Forever.